miPing Service
Finmon miPing Monitoring Service
What It Does
The Finmon Ping Service continuously monitors the network connectivity of active alarm units. When a unit goes offline and stops responding, the service automatically raises a Loss of Polling alarm at the control room — just as if the unit had reported it itself. When the unit recovers, a restore signal is sent automatically.
This service runs 24/7 on the Finmon back-end infrastructure. No configuration is required on site.
How It Works
1. Which units are monitored
A unit is enrolled in the ping service by enabling the Ping Enabled flag on its profile in the Finmon portal. Only units with a registered Finmon network IP address are eligible.
2. How often units are checked
Each unit is checked approximately every 5 minutes under normal conditions. If a unit's status is uncertain (i.e. it has recently started failing or recovering), checks increase to every 1 minute to confirm the change quickly.
3. Confirming a failure — debounce protection
To prevent false alarms from brief network blips, the service requires 4 consecutive failed checks before declaring a unit offline. This means a unit must be unreachable for roughly 4–20 minutes before an alarm is raised. Likewise, a unit must pass 4 consecutive checks before a recovery is confirmed.
4. What signal is sent to the control room
When a failure is confirmed, the service sends a standard Contact ID alarm to the unit's assigned control room receiver:
| Event | Contact ID Code | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Unit goes offline | 356 — Loss of Polling | Unit has stopped responding on the network |
| Unit recovers | 356 — Restore | Unit is reachable again |
The alarm is delivered using the unit's own account code, so it appears in the control room software exactly like any other alarm from that site.
Note: Alarm reporting must be enabled per-unit. Units with reporting disabled will still have their status tracked internally, but no signal will be sent to the control room.
5. Dual-SIM units
For units with dual SIM cards, the service automatically tries all possible IP addresses associated with the unit before declaring it unreachable. This accounts for units that may have switched between SIM slots since last contact.
Summary for the Customer
| Feature | Detail |
|---|---|
| Check interval | Every 5 minutes (every 1 minute when status is uncertain) |
| Alarm type | Contact ID 813 — Loss of Polling |
| False-alarm protection | 4 consecutive failures required before alarm is raised |
| Recovery notification | Automatic restore signal sent to control room |
| Setup required on site | None |